Welcome to the “My 2 Cents Transaction” Series, a money diary log written by contributors of all different income levels, locations, and occupations. Each contributor will be logging their weekly expenses in either food, lifestyle, or activities/entertainment. This is not meant to flaunt what other people are doing or how much they are spending but to open the eyes of individuals about money and how to take control of your future finances. Thanks so much for reading as always & if you’d like to be an anonymous contributor feel free to email me at rachelmchow@gmail.com or message me on Insta/Twitter. xx Rae
Occupation: Project Manager Age: 26 Location: NYC Salary: $125K Total Spent This Week: $723.20
Friday: I usually work remotely on Fridays because my entire team flies in from different parts of the country. This flexbility with work allows me to plan my day accordingly and sometimes start my weekend a little early. I got a notification on twitter that Carly Rae Jepsen had released her new single 'Cut to the Feeling' which I immediately purchased ($1.29) on iTunes despite also having Spotify premium because I want to support artists that deserve my money. Other artists in this category include Beyonce and Taylor Swift. 'Cut to the Feeling' turned out to be the theme for the weekend as it was also the start of the summer...Memorial Day Weekend. After working half a day, I met up with the guy I've been seeing for a lunch date. We had to get creative on scheudling dates since we have opposite schedules, he works in the restaurant industry and I'm on the 9 to 5. Normally I wouldn't agree to doing daytime dates during the work week, but when life gives you a handsome man ...you break your rules and treat him for a sandwich and salad at Bite ($20). [I hope he doesn't read this] After my date, I made a stop at the liquor store to pick up some wines, 1 bottle of prosecco for the train to Greenport and 2 bottles of Cabernet for a thank-you-for-hosting-me-at-your-giant-summer-home. ($80). I met my two best friends at Penn Station and purchased my roundtrip ticket to Greenport ($50) and we were off to Cut to the Weekend. We immediately popped open the prosecco and finished it before getting to our transfer in Ronkonkama, I'm sure everyone on our train hated us becuase we wouldn't stop talking loudly about how much we love Carly Rae Jepsen. C'est la vie, 3 hours later and a lot of standing, we were finally at our destination. [Fuck the LIRR for not providng enough cars on the train out to Greenport forcing me to stand for the majority of the ride]. A quick walk from the station, we met up with our hosts for the weekend for some dinner and drinks at First and South. 3 moscow mules and a chicken sandwich later ($60) we had overstayed our table reservation and took the hint from the waitress to head out. For those of you who don't know Greenport well, it'll probably be the Montauk of the north fork of long Island in a few years. I say in a few years because we went out to Claudio's after dinner for some drinks and dancing, which they had the audacity to charge $5 cover. Upon entering what we thought would be a rager, turned out to be what felt like a sweet sixteen. Total Spent: $216.20
Saturday: Woke up fairly early and somehow convinced my friends to go on a run to the beach with me. My marathon training really starts in July but I'd rather have a good base to work off of. 6 miles later we made it to the beach and I even got to see the house they filmed the Greenport episode of HBO's GIRLS. Once we all got back to the house, we were feening for some lunch. M loaded us all into her dad's giant pick up truck. I usually take the role of DJ and the first song to come to mind in that pickup truck was none other than Miley Cyrus' 'Party in the USA'. A banger, if you will. For lunch we went to Fork and Anchor to pick up our provisions for a day at the vineyards. I purchased a chicken salad sandwich and an Arizona Dollar Can ($15). After a quick car ride over to the vineyards, lunchbags in hand, we were told that we weren't allowed to bring outside food into the vineyards. Those assholes trying to ruin our good time couldn't keep us from eating our lunch in the parking lot ontop of M's pickup. We did manage to get into the vineyard for some wine tasting, which really shouldn't be called a tasting as I drank the entire glass of Rosé. ($12) We decided to make the day into a day-drinking event and head to another vineyard, Croteaux. This place looked like Pintrest had thrown up in their backyard drinking patio. Cute A F. The five of us split 4 bottles of Rosé, which was more economical than paying per glass. ($40) Rosé you stay, my budget sashay away. A full day of drinking would not be complete with, you guessed it, more dining. M made us a reservation at the Frisky Oyster, which makes me laugh typing it out as much as it did when she told us where we were headed to. I had grilled octopus for dinner and 2 cocktails. ($55) You probably think we called it a night after the full day of drinking, but we didn't and decided to keep the party going and go to a cocktail bar for post-dinner. I tend to be me gregarious with my wallet the more I drink, so i bought everyone a round at Brix & Rye ($55). Total Spent: $172
Sunday: Somehow I've managed to avoid a hangover all weekend, which is quite impressive considering all the indulgence. I spent the majority of the morning out on the deck sun tanning/napping while I waited for K and B to wake up. (They had stayed out later than the rest of us and almsot couldn't get an Uber back to the house) M's mom, Mrs. G, grilled us some lunch which was very nice of her. After lunch, we decided to go check out Greenport Harbor's Brewing Co. I bought us a round of beers to kick us off, a refreshing IPA. ($20) After the bewery, I somehow convinced everyone we needed to go to Ralphs for some italian ice. There's no Ralph's in Manhattan, so whenever I see it out in LI i make it a point to go. Rainbow Cookie Cream Ice is the best, got myself a small and also spotted K's lemon italian ice because she claimed they didn't take credit cards. ($10) turns out Ralph's does take credit cards and K's a freeloader [JK]. We made the executive decision to go pick up Greek takeout for dinner. I got myself a beef gyro platter from Hellenic Restaurant. ($17) So many onions, good thing we were planning to stay in. Total Spent: $47
Monday: This was our last day in Greenport. The place we planned on getting brunch at had a 2 hour wait, which wasn't gonna fly since we had to catch a train back to Manhattan. So we ended up going to Noah's for brunch. Noah's probably the best (most expensive) restaurant in Greenport. I had a soft-shell crab BLT for brunch, no regrets. ($30) Without fail, LIRR had dissapointed me again and we had to stand for the second half of the train ride back to the city. Once I got to my apartment, I realized I had nothing in my fridge. Ended up making one of my dad's go-to meals for when you get back from vacation and have no groceries, white rice and fried eggs. Immediately after eating that, I decided to order groceries from Fairway for delivery. ($96)
Total Spent:$126
Tuesday: Back to reality, I picked up a BEC and an Iced Americano at Starbucks for breakfast. ($5) Normally I only have an Iced Americano in the morning if I really need it. I needed it. While at work, I realized that Pride weekend in NYC was coming up and I didn't have anything to wear. Immediately purchesed a crop top, problem solved. ($60) For lunch I usually go out with my coworkers. It's a good way to get some air/relax since our client can be pretty demanding on this project. Got myself a salad from Panera. ($10) After work, my college friend wanted to catch up over coffee/tea. We met up at Pret and I had a iced green tea because I try to avoid having more than one coffee a day. ($3) I like to run after work even though I'm more of a morning person. I find that I have more energy after work to push through a run. Once I got home, I realized I had run out of rice, so I went and picked up a bag of rice from H Mart. ($30). Total Spent:$108
Wednesday: Another day another dollar. I had to go to a different office to lead some trainings for our new team of field surveyors. Hiring / managing this team has taken a lot of my time in May, and this training would be no exception. I packed a banana for breakfast and picked up an Iced Americano at Starbucks ($5). The training went well in LIC and I barely had time to get myself lunch. I picked up a Mexican Caesar salad from Chopt which is my favorite thing they have on the menu. ($11) After work, I knew I had to do laundry. Laundry is usually something I do on the weekend, but since I was away all weekend, I didnt have a chance. One load later, I had fresh clothes and linens while I got my evenning run in. ($3) Since I bought groceries the day before, I decided to make dinner for my roommate and me. He doesn't know how to cook, but you better belive he knows he's doing dishes. Made us some steak and brocolli. Gotta eat big to get big. I'm usually in bed by 11 PM on work nights just browsing on my phone and watching YouTube videos. I realized I had run out of my favorite Acne Bandage Stickers. My parent's always said I'd grow out of acne, still waiting. Thank God for Amazon Prime, ordered my favorite zit stickers from Nexcare. ($30) Total Spent: $49
Thursday: I woke up early and got my run in before work. I try to avoid this because I don't like going to work still sweating but I had no choice since I was heading up to Boston for the weekend after work. For lunch, I got a salad from Sweet Green. ($10) Salad for lunch? Shocking, I know. After work, I met my best friend at the bus stop with dinner for the both of us to have on the bus. Another salad. ($20) I like to think that I'm reversing the damage I do to my body on the weekends. We boarded our 4 hour bus ride to Boston. ($55 roundtrip) We were heading up to Boston for the weekend for her 5-year college reunion. You're probably wondering why I'm going to my best friends college reunion and not mine. Simple, my state school has too many students in each graduating year to host a reunion. Luckily, I'm good friends with all her college friends and able to attend their reunion instead. Once we got to South Station in Boston, we took an Uber to our friend's apartment in Cambridge. ($10) Total Spent: $95
So I like to think that my weekly spending was heavily influenced by MDW plans and Rosé consumption. I try not to overthink my budget too much as long as I'm still putting money from every paycheck into savings/investments. Some people like to splurge on expensive clothing or luxury goods, I'd rather spend my money on experiences and travel. One of my biggest pet peeves is penny pinching when going out with friends. At the end of the day it all comes out in the wash when it comes to splitting checks with friends. I'd rather have a good time with friends and family than sit and count how much each person owes on a per item basis.